Correcting non-linear lens distortion in cameras without using a model

Camera lens distortion calibration is the first step in resolving any metric application with a camera. To date, lens distortion was corrected using some existing lens distortion non-metric or self-calibration methods. Using a lens distortion model means defining a global rule to correct the entire image. This global rule does not take into account particular lens distortion effects not represented by the model. Moreover, to calibrate the model, only some features of the scene such as straight lines, circles or vanishing points are used. Since only the feature of the scene used to calibrate the model is guaranteed by the distortion rectification, it is certain that the model will not be precise. The result is an approximation of the real image distortion.To improve the lens distortion rectification, a method without using a model is proposed. Using a set of control points distributed across the entire image, they are corrected to assure all the restrictions of the scene. With both sets of points, the points detected in the image and the undistorted ones, image local transformations are defined considering only nearby control points. Rather than calibrating a global model, local functions are characterized. The distortion correction is defined by a rectification surface composed of local surface patches each influenced by nearby control points. This method is more sensitive to local deformations and allows the image to be corrected in accordance with its distortion.